Purple Hair

Oxiclean is Magic!

BEFORE:



AFTER:

Week 17 Highlights

December 7-11, 2009

MEMORY: They worked on Commandments 7 & 8. You shall not commit adultery, and You shall not steal.

HISTORY:
Read pages 16-37 about Zeus and Hera.

Read about Gods and Goddesses, Temples Worship and Festivals, Oracles and Mystery Cults, and Death and the Underworld.

BIBLE:*B* started reading Acts and *C* is still working on John.

SCIENCE: Lesson 15 was about Monotremes and Marsupials. We read a few sections of books we own about the Platypus, Koala, Kangaroo, Echidna (Spiny Anteater), and Opossum.

LATIN: *B* and *C* completed lesson 7.

FRENCH: Started our vocabulary with bonjour, bon nuit and je t'adore.

MATH:

*T* completed lessons 27, 28 & 29.

*C* did exercises 52-55.

*B* and I worked through pages 28-30 of 3A HIG and corresponding text/workbook pages. She also did Mental Math 1-6.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

*T* did Explode the Code B pages 15-28, /s/.

*C* and *B* will start Primary Language Lessons after the holidays. I really do love LLATL, but it's really hard to get done. There are 5 days worth of work for a lesson and (like MFW) I just feel so behind when we don't get it all done. PLL is set up as lessons so if we only get 2 or 3 done I won't feel behind.
(I didn't link this one to Amazon because it had one of those ridiculously high prices.)

My Teddy Bear

O Christmas Tree

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
How lovely are your branches!
In beauty green will always grow
Through summer sun and winter snow.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
How lovely are your branches!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
You are the tree most loved!
How often you give us delight
In brightly shining Christmas light!
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
You are the tree most loved!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
Your beauty green will teach me
That hope and love will ever be
The way to joy and peace for me.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
Your beauty green will teach me

Week 16 Highlights

Since we're not doing MFW I had stopped counting weeks, but I counted our days so far and it equals out to week 16. I was worried that we were behind (b/c of the baby) but it seems we're not doing too bad! (Except with Language Arts.)

HISTORY: I decided to just read through Famous Men of Greece and Rome to finish up our study of the Ancients. I wanted to get the pretty Memoria Press books, but I got a really good deal on the Greenleaf versions. We are using the online copy while I'm waiting on the actual books to arrive.

This week we read Deucalion and the Flood, Cadmus and the Dragon's Teeth, and did the corresponding notebook pages.

BIBLE: *B* and *C* are still reading John. After Christmas break we're going to start doing one of these free studies that I found.

SCIENCE: We finished Unit 1 in Christian Kids Explore Biology. Since it's starting to get cold I decided to skip ahead (the next units were plants and birds) to Unit 4: Mammals. This week we did sort of an intro and they worked on their first research project! I made a Mammal Report notebook page. We had a few books on hand, but they found of most their info on the internet. (They use KidZui to access the Internet. It only lets them access pre-approved, kid-friendly websites. For example, it will let them use Wikipedia, but block certain pages.)

LATIN: *B* and *C* finished lesson 6. I'm hoping to add Prima Latina after Christmas.

MATH:

*T* lessons 24, 25 & 26

*C* is almost finished with 2A! This week he did exercises 42-51.

*B* is working on 3A. (Standards Ed.) This week we added the use of the HIG and the Extra Practice book. Oh my! Math has gone so much more smoothly this week! The HIG has really helped me explain things so that she can understand.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

*T* started Get Set for the Code B.

*C* worked on LLATL Yellow lesson 4.

*B* worked on LLATL Orange lesson 3.

Lamb's Book of Art I

I'm so excited to finally be able to start this! We did the sample pages a while ago and really liked the program. It was a bit of a hassle to actually get it from CBD, but well worth it!

When I got my first box (the original order) they had sent me How Great Thou Art I. I called and they sent me a replacement by 1-Day Air. In this second box was... How Great Thou Art I. I called again and they said that the books must be in the wrong spot. You would think that they would have double checked, being that it was a replacement order. SO, this time it was sent by 2-Day Air.

Finally got it today. I'm not mad. There's no point in getting mad. They did what they could to resolve the situation... and I get to keep the other 2 books.

No More Zantac!

I'm so excited! On October 7 the baby started taking Zantac for acid reflux. (I have to add here that we didn't see his regular Pediatrician, we saw a Nurse Practitioner.) She told me to give him .6mL 2x a day. That seemed a little extreme to me. The baby's symptoms weren't horrible, they were just bad enough to make him - and me - uncomfortable. So he's only ever taken it 1x a day. Within 24 hours he was like a brand new baby! No more spit up and no more "colicky" behavior.

After a week or so I read a Zantac box at the grocery. It said that the medicine reduces the production of stomach acid, and I had heard that the body can become dependent on the medicine if taken too long. I really started wondering if there was something we could give him to neutralize the acid instead.

About 3 weeks ago I tried taking him off of the Zantac and he went right back to being a cranky spit up baby. A week later (of being on the meds again) we decided to change his formula. We tried Enfamil A.R. - it's made thicker for babies who spit up. It's been awesome! He's not been on any medicine for about 10 days.

THEN we got to wondering if it was just the formula in the first place. He was on Enfamil in the hospital and for about a week after. Then we switched to Good Start, since that's what WIC gives you in TN. Looking back, that's about when we started to notice the problems, but I associated it with getting used to wearing the harness.

So now he's taking a mixture of Enfamil AR and regular Enfamil. It's thick, but not super thick. He's doing just fine. After my can of AR is finished we're going to just give him the Enfamil and see what happens.

EDITED TO ADD: I tried reducing the AR just a little bit and he started spitting up again. I guess 1/2 and 1/2 is the right mixture for him.

Starting Early

Every man needs his remote! (Even if he IS asleep.)

Sleepy Heads

Highlights & Adjustments

Wow, it's been an entire month since I last posted about school. We've also made a few changes.

MEMORY WORK: We're up through the 6th Commandment already.
- Exodus 20, The Ten Commandments
- I am the Lord your God....You shall have no other gods before me.
- You shall not make for yourself an idol.
- You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
- Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.
- Honor your father and mother.
- You shall not murder.

HISTORY: This is where we've made the biggest change. We're not doing MFW anymore... there I said it. I absolutely love the idea of MFW, but I can't keep up with it. I guess the Unit Study approach just isn't for us. I always felt like I was behind and it got a little stressful.

I pulled together the resources that I had and made up a 36 week schedule to finish the Ancients. (I'll post more about that later.) The first week we read A Child's History of the World chapters 5-7. This was mainly a recap of what we'd already learned with MFW Creation to the Greeks. The second week we read about Sargon and Hammurabi. They also did a notebook page on Hammurabi and mapped his empire. This past week we talked about early Europe, Stonehenge and the mythical beginnings of Britain from Our Island Story.

That brings us up through week 7 on the new schedule.

BIBLE: For now, *B* and *C* are required to read 1 chapter a day as a part of their independent work. They've read all of Mark, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and now they are in the Gospel of John.

HYMN STUDY: Almost done with Amazing Grace.

SCIENCE: Christian Kids Explore Biology lessons 3 and 4.

LATIN: They do Latin's Not So Tough 2 in their folders and I'm too lazy to go see how far they've gotten. :/

MATH:

*T* lessons 20, 21 & 22

*C* just finished Review 5.

*B* has finished 2B and is now in 3A (finally!) She's had a tough time with rounding, so we've been stuck on that for a week or so. We'll move on next week and just keep reviewing every day.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

We've hardly done any. I don't know what happened, but we've let it slip by the last few weeks.

*T* is working through Explode the Code book A. He will be finished with it this coming week and (hopefully) will start book B. I think I'm going to wait until he's done with the Primers to start back up with LLATL Blue. I think it would be easier on him (and me) if he knew all of the letter sounds before we continue.

... Well that's it - no pictures, sorry. Hopefully now we can get back on a regular reporting schedule!

My Babies

*B*


*C*


*T*


*L*


*Z*

Sunday Science

This is the coolest thing I've ever seen. We watched him for a while before I had the sense to pull my phone out and record it.

Bean Bag Toss

We had so much fun! Well, the kids did. :) They got to make a ball toss game. They got to keep the safety goggles and Lowe's apron. After they were done they also got a certificate and a patch... sort of like what they'd get it boy/girl scouts.

Chores, Points, and Money

We don't require many chores, but what we do require is expected to be done. The 3 big kids kitchen chores alternate between dishes, wiping the table, and sweeping the floor. It didn't always get done and no one ever remembered who's turn it was to do what. After a week of our new system, I am in love. Why on earth didn't I try this before?

The Point Chart

(click image to open PDF)
Left column lists chores to be completed, 7 columns for the days of the week, last column is Total Points.

The box at the top lists point values:
0 = did not do
1 = did but had to be reminded
2 = did without being reminded
1/2 a job gets 1/2 the points

The very last row is for behavior. They start each day with 10 points and, as we see fit, points are taken away.

At the end of the week they get "Chore Money" since we can't pay them real money. They can earn a possible 140 points per week, which equals $140 chore money. The first thing they will do is tithe 10%. We believe that God will honor this since their chore money is valuable to them, just as our paper money is valuable to us.

The Chore Money

I printed each denomination on a different color...







...and this is what I used for the back.



Eventually, I'd like to set up a bank and they can learn to write checks.

Privileges

$5 - extra snack (for example, an extra scoop of ice cream)
$10 - 15 minutes alone in the bedroom (the boys share a room)
$15 - extra 15 minutes on the phone and/or computer
$30 - stay up 30 minutes past bedtime
$500 - a real $5 bill

Fines & Penalties
(these are all things we've had major issues with)

$5 per church incident:
- running
- being in the sound room
- going on the stage
- being down by the creek

$1 per home incident:
- running
- going into mom and dad's room
- touching anything that doesn't belong to you

Obviously these will change over time, but for now I think we've got a good start. If you have any more ideas let me know!

Sleepy Bob et al

Creation to Greeks ~ week 7

I've rearranged our week a little bit. We're doing History MWF and Science TR.

MEMORY WORK: We added the 2nd Commandment - You shall not make for yourself an idol.

BIBLE/HISTORY: We talked about Abraham, Isaac, and the destruction of Sodom. (Genesis 17-21) Instead of a notebook page about Papyrus, we made some. I slipped it into a page protector and filed it in the history notebook.





Race to Bury Tut was on the National Geographic Channel this week and we watched that. Very very interesting. They also made a cartouche.

SCIENCE: Christian Kids Explore Biology Lesson 2: Cells. They had so much fun learning about cells. On Tuesday, we read the lesson and looked at some pictures of cells. Then I had them label the basic parts of an animal cell and a plant cell. I used this picture from BBC to make a labeling worksheet. They also watched the interactive video.

For the 2nd part of the lesson, we read a few pages from Cells: Building Blocks of Life (ISBN 0134004663) that described each part of the cell and filled out the reading sheet. On the back I had them draw and label each cell. We also made a Ziploc/Jello animal cell. It was later pointed out to me that we actually made Red Blood Cells.



HYMN STUDY: We finished memorizing Holy, Holy, Holy.

VOCABULARY: Greek Root: graph - to write or draw

READ ALOUD: We finished Boy of the Pyramids by Ruth Fosdick Jones. If you can't get it from the Library (like I did) then I highly recommend buying a copy! It is a really good book.

LATIN: LNST 2, lessons 1&2 pages 1-12. These lessons reviewed book 1.

MATH:

*T* lessons 17-19 of R&S 1

*C* PM 2A exercises 24-26 and Review 1

*B* PM 2B (almost done!) Reviews 3 & 4 plus corresponding textbook pages

LANGUAGE ARTS:

*T*


*C* first half of LLATL Yellow Lesson 2

*B* began lesson 2.

We had a hard time getting LA done this week.

Pavlik Harness ~ Day 21

Very good news today!!

The Pediatric Radiologist did an ultrasound on the baby's hips and said that he saw NOTHING WRONG!!! Praise God!

We see the Orthopedist again on October 7 to find out the next step. I'm hoping he'll tell me to hide it in a box and let it die... but from what I understand there's a weaning process, so we'll see.

UPDATE: On October 7 the Orthopedist said that he could stop wearing the harness! He has to have an xray in January to confirm everything. Thanks for your prayers!

Chillaxin Poolside

Chaos vs. Creation

Christian Kids Explore Biology: Lesson 1, the Experiment.

Last week when we did the teaching part of the lesson we discussed Creation vs. Evolution. Since we did no other school this week, I decided that we should at least finish up our Biology lesson.

First we filled out the Experiment Form.

Objective:
Today I am trying to find out if I can create something by accident.

Hypothesis:
Based on what I have read and studied, I believe that nothing will be created.

The Experiment:
To test out this theory, I plan to throw popsicle sticks up in the air.

Next, we took turns throwing popsicle sticks.


We discussed our results and that GOD had to have PLANNED and CREATED the Earth - for nothing can be created by accident.

Lastly, the kids planned and created with their popsicle sticks.